Mausoleum Muse
by Lenalesca
Summary: Hinata Hyuuga graduated from the National Army College a year ago. Just as she starts to settle into a new routine in life, her older brother Neji asks her for a favor which leads to old family secrets being dug up both figuratively and literally. Rated M for swearing and gore. AU
1. Chapter 1

Mausoleum Muse

Chapter 1: Dragged

Hinata looked up at her mother who just paused in the middle of story telling. Immediately, Hinata realized this was a dream because her mother has been long gone. Nevertheless she allowed the woman to keep on telling her the bedtime story she was almost too familiar with.

"The alliance of tomb robbers agreed to a truce, each family of tomb robbers are in charge of a specific area of land. They made a pact to guard their own area until the end of time so that the secret will be safe."

"But mother, what _is_ the secret?" Hinata furrowed her eyebrows; she could never remember this part.

"My dear, the secret is-"

Hinata opened her eyes and shifted her head to look at the clock on her bedside table, 5:59AM. She stared at the ceiling thoughtfully, this dream has been plaguing her for years but only on occasions. It was also one of the few memories of her mother she could clearly recall so it became that much more special.

Hinata's mother died when she turned six, her father explained to her that it was due to a deadly virus which was spreading quickly during that particular winter. Her older brother Neji took the news pretty badly, not saying she fared any better. Neji who was ten at the time started looking to join the local teen gangs; Hinata remembered seeing him climbing over the courtyard walls at night to go to the gang meetings. Their father threw a fit when Neji's actions were discovered and they ended up moving out of the area, in fact they moved to another country. Neji managed to stay out of trouble most of the time after that, he went to university like what most of the family expected but what was unexpected was that he chose the subject of Archeology. Hinata was surprised at Neji's choice in studies but their father was more vocal about it, she thought it was strange that father was almost opposed to Neji's direction of studies but after a while father seemed to relent and just let Neji did whatever he wanted.

Well, maybe Hinata should thank Neji for wearing down their father's "iron-grip way" in the family. She was pretty sure if Neji had not mentally prepared their father beforehand with his own bizarre career direction, their father would have suffered a stroke when she broke the news that she got herself enrolled in the National Army College. So in the end everything turned out well after all.

Now Neji has moved to Europe for some reason and busied himself in various "digging projects" as Hinata likes to call it. Everytime they talked on the phone or send emails, it was about the types of earth being dug up, what ancient civilization secrets have been uncovered or what sort of new artifact have been displayed at a famous museum. As much as Hinata loves her big brother, she holds the firm belief that his fascination with the dead and buried was beyond unhealthy. Hinata herself has what she regards a very healthy lifestyle, both mentally and physically. She has a good sized circle of friends, she regularly participates in outdoor activities such as hiking and mountain biking. Hinata works in the National Defense Force for months at a time. In her spare time which was when she's not on training programs or missions, she's trying to meet guys just like all other single girls her age, so far that seemed to be the only area she's failing in. The guys that Hinata finds seem to like the "damsel-in-distress" kind of females more, and Hinata found that strange. She even hinted to Neji to introduce a few of his male friends or co-workers to her but Neji merely brushed her off by saying no one he knows was remotely up to Hinata's standards. That really annoyed her. In fact, she might tell him that when she sees him at the airport in a few hours.

Neji had contacted Hinata a week ago about taking some time off work. That alone was such a rare occurrence that Hinata had to ask him to repeat his plans to her three times. Neji wanting a holiday – that happens maybe once every three years. Neji wanting a holiday on a separate continent to where he works – that _never_ happens. Neji wanting a holiday to spend time with his younger sister Hinata – the end of the world has come and gone, a new era is upon the Earth. Although Hinata was technically still in awe at her brother's decision, her army training kicked in and poker face mode has activated. She shall just do what he asked and he might start talking about this sudden change in his whole personality. Hinata suspected it's to do with a girl.

After getting ready, Hinata headed to the airport. She wondered if this new change in Neji meant her brother also changed his looks in anyway. Her hopes are dashed when she spots him tugging along some luggage at the arrival gate.

"Hinata! Long time no see little sister," Neji stepped forward in his typical t-shirt, jacket and jeans combination. He paused in front of Hinata and it became awkward when Hinata realized Neji didn't know whether he should be shaking her hand or giving her a hug.

"You have not changed much big brother," Hinata hid a snicker before throwing her arms around Neji to give him a bear hug. She smirked to herself when she felt his whole body go rigid from nervousness. "Don't be so tense Neji, we're family."

"Uh, no I'm just not used to all these…muscles on your arms," Neji stammered and Hinata just wanted to crush him with the very muscles he just spoke about. A blond young man about her age walked up to them, he was wearing a navy colored hoody, had several travel bags and he looked uncertainly at Neji.

"Oh right, I almost forgot. I bought along a co-worker like you previously asked, Hinata," Neji struggled out of the bear hug to introduce the blond man. "This is my colleague Naruto. Naruto, this is Hinata my sister."

"Nice to meet you Naruto," Hinata reached forward to shake Naruto's hand. The young man named Naruto smiled politely and shook her hand but didn't say anything.

"Naruto is a mute, Hinata. Don't expect him to talk much." Neji explained as Hinata raised an eyebrow. "He still hears exceptionally well and his writing ability probably surpasses me. So communication shouldn't be a problem."

Hinata could not believe it. Only her dear brother Neji would consider bringing a _mute_ colleague to visit his sister a _holiday_. It seemed like Neji's always going to be Neji. She took them to the motel Neji booked beforehand to check in and then all three of them went to a nearby café to chat, well one of them was writing instead of chatting.

"How have you been Hinata? Father says he's worried about you getting a proper boyfriend," Neji leaned forward to whisper the last part like it was some shameful secret. Hinata mentally sighed at how reserved and weird her brother was.

"I think he should be worried about me getting a boyfriend period," Hinata replied nonchalantly, ignoring the visible wince on her brother's face. "It's funny how he doesn't worry about you even though you're the eldest." Neji grimaced and rolled his eyes.

"That's because you don't hear about it, father has been on my case since two years ago."

"No candidates yet?"

"Not many girls in this line of career. God forbid they break a nail while digging…"

Naruto had gotten absorbed in a scientific magazine which Neji brought along. He was obviously not interested in the siblings' conversation about their family woes. Hinata felt a bit bad about excluding him in their talk. She tried a new subject.

"So what new exciting new project have two of you been working on this time? It has actually been a while since I heard Neji ranting on about his current 'digging project' which is strange."

For some reason Hinata felt the atmosphere suddenly getting tense. The dark looks on both Neji and Naruto's faces told her the answer was not going to be pleasant, and they were right.

"Actually we were going to ask you about this properly later but since you already brought it up," Neji shifted uncomfortably, he looked across at Naruto who had tucked away the magazine and now seemed a lot more focused. "We're here to offer you a temporary position on our team to work on a big project."

"…What?" Hinata frowned. It was not like her brother to joke around like this. "You have totally lost me."

"Well, here's the deal sis," Neji rubbed his palms together and lowered his voice. "Naruto's mentor professor Jiraiya recently made a breakthrough in translating some ancient language depicted on certain murals inside burial chambers of some tombs located in the northern region. Both Jiraiya and Naruto reckons the writing describes the existence of a very precious artifact which was regarded to have magical properties by the people of ancient times." Hinata leaned back to throw an incredulous look at Naruto who only nodded in earnest.

"Ok, _magic_? I'm sorry, I don't do _magic_ so I'm afraid you're going to have to look elsewhere."

"There is no magic Hinata, I only meant that the people regarded the thing to be magical when in reality some science must be behind it. Back then people didn't have as much technology to unravel mysteries, remember?" Neji had the audacity to sound annoyed. Naruto was scribbling something furiously on a writing pad he got out of his bag. Hinata only felt like those scribbles will further confuse her.

"I still don't get why _me_, shouldn't these types of missions be reserved for archeologists or specialists of some kind? If you haven't realized yet I don't have a qualification for digging anything out of the ground." Hinata wanted to grab Neji's shoulders and shake her brother until he sees that this was a terribly bad idea. Naruto in the mean time has shoved a page of writing into Hinata's face.

'There are not enough scientists who are convinced of professor Jiraiya's findings. No funds given for the expedition but we're convinced this is a solid lead and due to lack of human resources, we are recruiting anyone we can trust. Neji and I are sorry to ask this of you but as you can tell, we're very desperate.' Hinata looked up from the note to see Neji scowling at Naruto who looked sullen.

"Seems like you guys _really_ are desperate since big brother usually never asks me for help," Hinata commented as she eyed the two men in front of her. They both cringed and refused to meet her gaze. Hinata just recently got back from an overseas training exercise, her next few months were completely free and she was getting bored so it seemed like a good opportunity to help out her big brother. "You owe me big time bro."

Neji somehow managed to look both troubled and relieved at the same time and Naruto finally released a breath he was holding without realizing it.

"Right, so I will give you all the details regarding the expedition right now," Neji reached into his pocket and produced a notebook full of writings and newspaper cutouts. "We leave tomorrow morning."

"Excuse me?" Hinata froze. "Tomorrow? That's way too soon. I don't even know where we're going!"

"It's unfortunate but this job really requires speed, it is essential we get to the location ASAP." Neji was getting up while Naruto was writing up another note. "I'm really sorry but this is the way it is."

Hinata stared dumbfounded at the note Naruto gave her, it read 'Thank you so much, you have no idea what it means to me.'

The two men went back to their motel afterwards and Hinata went home to pack. It was a good thing the army training taught her to efficiently pack the necessities for survival in the countryside; she was also given a list by Neji to prepare some digging equipment. She should have seen all this coming what with Neji's obsession with the past.

From the notebook given by Neji, Hinata managed to grasp some basic idea that this strange ancient relic they were trying to locate was supposed to be mask used by a queen of ancient times. The queen's subjects and her people feared her because she had a strange power enabling her to eliminate all who opposed her. That power was linked to the mask which she used to cover her face entirely. The passage of writing professor Jiraiya had translated described that the mask was buried with the queen in her tomb; in addition there was information on the approximate location of the tomb itself. The tomb was said to be in a very desolate area named Qing-Ming, it's also near some impressive mountain ranges.

The team of three met at the train station in the morning and they boarded a train bound for Qing-Ming. Hinata stared out the window at the trees whipping past and wondered what had she gotten herself into.

References:

Inspirations from Gui Chui Deng and Dao Mu Bi Ji. Two popular Chinese fiction series regarding grave robberies. Plot, scenes, locations and characters will be absolutely different but some minor details will be shamelessly incorporated.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Revealed

During the uneventful train ride, Hinata slept most of the time. She also tried to get some more information from Naruto as Neji was almost always asleep when she was awake. Truth be told, Hinata was very curious about Naruto. A mute archeologist wasn't exactly a common occurrence in her life. To her disappointment, Naruto didn't seem too eager to elaborate his own personal history to her. Naruto explained via paper and pen that he had met Neji during their senior years in university, they were lucky enough to get a job at the same museum. Both of them were supposed to also be guest lecturers everynow and then at their previous university but since Naruto doesn't speak, Neji took on both their shares in lecturing and in exchange Naruto did more field work. When Hinata asked about Naruto's family, he only shook his head and smiled wryly before writing "Orphaned for as long as I remember." It was at that point Hinata thought she should stop probing, back off a little and give the man some space. Hinata also had this nagging feeling that she was missing something important in all this; sleep did not help make the feeling go away.

Qing-Ming being such an isolated area meant the train ride took most of the day. By the time they reached their destination and managed to book into a small motel it was just about dinner time. All three travelers filed into a small cafe opposite their motel. Since it was around dinner time, the cafe was buzzing with activities and the place was almost packed.

"You guys order some food, I'm going to go find us a guide for the area." Neji handed Hinata and Naruto the menu.

"Neji I thought you knew where we're going. Surely this thing can wait until morning, I mean we've been traveling all day and I'm sure Naruto's tired." Hinata frowned at her brother's insensitivity. "You should get some food in you before we do anything else."

"I know where it is, but since it's dark it's safer to get a guide-"

"Neji!" Hinata slammed her hand on the table, ignoring looks from other patrons in the cafe. "What the hell is wrong with you? Since when did this turn into a race? I'm sure if we're late by a few more hours it won't make any difference!" Hinata fumed at her brother. Neji was usually the most level-headed person she knew. What in the world had gotten into him? Neji froze for a few seconds, swallowed thickly and seemed to waver for a good minute then he pinned Naruto with a glare.

"Explain it to her, I'm going out." With that, Neji promptly left without giving Hinata a second glance. Hinata was close to running out after Neji to give him a good smack on the head but thought it would be bad to leave a mute Naruto behind. She leaned back in her seat and tried to take deep breaths. She glanced at Naruto who was getting out a pen and some paper almost deliberately slowly.

"So, something you guys are not telling me?" Hinata started tapping her finger in the table, a bad habit she learnt in the army. Even though Naruto avoided any eye contact, Hinata still picked up the look of guilt as he wrote on the paper.

'It is of vital importance we get to the location of the tomb ASAP. We lied to you because we really were desperate. This whole thing is more of a search and rescue rather than an expedition like we promised.'

Well, fuck. Hinata picked up the menu, waved to the waitress and ordered the most expensive thing she could find. As far as she's concerned, Neji should take care of all her expenses on this trip starting now. As she ate, she demanded more answers from her silent companion. It turns out, that professor Jiraiya was also somewhat of a father figure to Naruto. Jiraiya had resigned from his job just weeks before to make the journey to Qing-Ming in hopes of finding the relic mask he firmly believes to rest in the ancient queen's royal tomb. However, there had been no news from him for two weeks and Naruto got worried since Jiraiya's planned return date has long passed. Naruto was hell-bent on finding Jiraiya and Neji was in no position to try to talk him out of it so he offered to help as much as he could.

"What happened to calling the authorities? Shouldn't the police get involved in this stuff?" Hinata pulled out her cellphone. No network reception, just as she thought. Naruto sighed and went on writing to explain that unfortunately Jiraiya has a bad record with the country's justice department which was why he had moved out of the country. Supposedly the old man was still wanted on a few charges of sexual harassment; it was Naruto's guess that Jiraiya had used a false identity to enter the country again. At this point Hinata just wanted to bury her face in her hands and wish away all the events of the last day or so.

When Neji made his way back to the cafe, he found Hinata pressing her face to the table. As soon as he took a seat, she shoved her half-finished meal towards him. Neji picked up his eating utensils and started eating without a complaint.

"Found a willing guide, meeting at the Qing-Ming park entrance in an hour," Neji swept his long black hair into a ponytail and continued to talk between bites. "That park has a hiking path into the mountains. The tomb is probably some way off but this is likely to be the fastest and easiest way. With some luck we can pick up the trail Jiraiya used but I'm not hopeful without any daylight."

"All this because the professor has a criminal record..." Hinata shook her head and Naruto shrugged with a sheepish grin.

After the three of them finished eating, they returned to their modest motel rooms to pick out some warm clothes. It was not winter but the temperatures in mountain areas can dip quite unexpectedly at night. Hinata slid her army knife into a special holder she had sewn to the inside of her jacket, another habit she picked up in her college years. For good luck, she thought to herself. Indeed the knife was almost never used outside of her training and missions so she considered it more of a good luck charm than anything else. When she left to meet Neji and Naruto at the front of the motel, she saw that Neji carried a shovel while Naruto had a pickaxe.

"Is that like, your usual combination out in the field?" Hinata couldn't help but poke fun at them. "How did you guys get past the motel reception with those?"

"I told them we are digging for buried pirate treasure," Neji shrugged as Hinata and Naruto snorted in unison. "There wasn't anyone at reception, I checked beforehand."

As the three of them set off, Hinata looked up at the night sky. There were lots of stars, a lot more visible than when in the city. The shadows of the mountains looming not too far away seemed especially foreboding.

"Hinata before we get there I want to be clear on something," Neji slowed his pace so he was walking between Naruto and Hinata. "This rescue operation has the potential to get dangerous."

"We're going underground to get a guy who's hopefully still alive and kicking out right? I've done rescue operations in the armed forces before. I'm not an amateur you know?"

"That's not what I meant," Neji shifted uncomfortably and he eyed Naruto who only looked back solemnly. "We're going into a tomb. In our field, call it superstitious if you want but there has been stories circulating about tomb excavations especially."

"And what do these…_stories_ say?" Hinata resisted the strong urge to roll her eyes. Her brother wasn't going to start telling her scary ghost stories right before a serious rescue operation was he?

"That there might be stuff still kicking in the tombs but not necessarily alive," Neji finished flatly. "Naruto and I have more experience in entering tombs with the least amount of disturbance to its internal environments so I want you to obey my instructions to the letter."

"Ugh, yes commander Neji." Hinata muttered. She squinted into the darkness towards the Qing-Ming park entrance. "Didn't you say you only found one guide?"

There were three men waiting at the park gate. All three of them dark haired, one kept his hair in a low ponytail like Neji.

"Shit," Neji swore as he looked around to make sure they weren't already surrounded. Naruto and Hinata both tensed up. So far it seemed like the area is deserted except for the three guys up ahead, but there may be more hiding in the woods near them. They stopped approaching the park to assess the situation. Hinata discretely patted her jacket where her knife hid underneath. Well, so much for good luck.

"What do we do?" Hinata asked in a low voice. "Is the person you spoke to one of them?"

"Nope, he must have been an informer," Neji tried to play it cool but Hinata could tell her brother was really agitated. "Think we can fool them as tourists taking a casual stroll in the park?"

"Not in this life time bro," Hinata tilted her head to indicate at the other group. The man with the ponytail was walking towards them alone. The other two stood in the distance, ready to rumble at any given indication no doubt. Hinata wrapped her arms around her as if she was cold, but her left arm was hiding her right hand which has a firm grip on the knife inside her jacket. "What's the signal?"

"When it becomes obvious they mean us harm," Neji stepped in front of Hinata and Naruto did the same. Both had iron grips on their digging tools. "Keep a look out for more reinforcements."

"Good evening," the lone stranger was now within a couple of meters. He nodded curtly. "I hear you people have been looking for guides for the mountains? I trust you're not foolish enough to attempt a mountain hike at this time of the night? Unless of course, you have actually _another motive_ for going."

"We don't want any trouble," Neji held up both of his hands and released his shovel. "I could just barely recognize you; it's been a while hasn't it Itachi?"

"You know him?!" Hinata and Naruto both stared at Neji.

"Well I know who he is, but I haven't seen him for about ten years. Actually you know him too Hinata." Neji answered. "The Uchiha family and the Hyuuga family were on pretty good terms in grandfather's generation."

"Hmph, so Neji," the man named Itachi waved to the other two men to join them. "Enlighten me as to why two Hyuugas and a stranger are now in the Uchiha territory looking like they want to dig up pirate treasure."

"This guy here is Naruto and he doesn't talk. Ok, long story short, our ex-senior colleague is lost in the mountains and we're trying to see if we can get to him in time."

"Police notified?"

"Professor _moron,_ who we're looking for is actually wanted by the police so we want to minimize collateral damage here."

By now the other two men have joined in them. Itachi gestured towards them for introductions. "This is Shisui and my younger brother Sasuke."

"Hahah nice to meet you, I kept on telling Itachi he was taking this too seriously and I'm right just like always." The man with the short curly hair gave them a friendly smile and shoved the other shorter man to the front. "Say 'hi' Sasuke, you need to make more friends or you'll end up being considered a loner nerd like your brother."

"If you're looking for someone in the mountains the odds is not good," Sasuke ignored Shisui's remark. "The mountain area can get pretty dangerous even during summer. We usually send out search parties only if the person has been gone for less than three days. After 72 hours we consider them lost forever."

"Well we are counting on the professor not being exposed to the environment in the mountains per se, even though he is definitely in the mountains." Neji explained. "He came here looking for an ancient tomb-"

"Holy _shit_!" Shisui cut Neji off abruptly. "That-that's…_how_ did he know that there might be a tomb around here?!" Itachi turned and gave him a warning look.

"So you're saying there's a chance he found the tomb and somehow got trapped there?" Sasuke frowned. "I've never heard anything about ancient tombs around here. Most of the tourists only come here for the scenery. I suppose if he isn't directly exposed to the elements then his chances of survival do go up substantially."

"Naruto is adamant that professor Jiraiya found the tomb, according to him the professor usually does enough research to cover all of his own bases before he leaves on an expedition."

"Well I hope one of those bases is about what monsters you can encounter underground," Itachi replied. "I've heard of the existence of a tomb in the mountains. Father warned me against going there though because apparently the place is deadly. Countless grave robbers lost their lives there and eventually most of the information regarding the location of the tomb vanished along with those idiots."

"…Monsters?" Hinata asked, wondering if Itachi was joking. "Those don't really exist right? I mean scientifically speaking no such dangerous creatures could be still living down there after all these centuries."

"Who knows? The world underground is a very strange place." Itachi shrugged. He turned to Neji. "If you want, we can take you to the general location for old time's sake. But if you want us to go in with you further, I'm going to have to start charging."

"Pffft, I think I'm going to keep my money. We are only going to find someone, not robbing a bank." Neji spied a red backpack Shisui was holding. "Is there weapons of mass destruction in there? We were really perceived to be that dangerous? Two guys and a girl?"

"Well it does contain weapons I guess," Shisui winked. "But trust me when I say they're completely harmless to you lot."

"So when are we leaving?" Hinata asked as she caught Naruto looking thoughtfully at the backpack.

"No time like the present I guess." Itachi started to lead the way towards the mountains.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Sunk

Hinata looked around anxiously. The party of six people ended up walking one after another on a narrow mountain path for a few hours by now. Itachi was leading the way with a flashlight, followed by Sasuke and Naruto, Hinata and Neji were next and Shisui with another flashlight was the last in line. When they first started up the mountain trail, Hinata could still hear crickets chirping and owls hooting in the woods. But the signs of wild life seemed to completely vanish after they passed a stone monument of some sort. Since it was dark, Hinata did not get a very good look at it but it looked like a very weathered stone block with an animal's head shape at the top.

The woods are now completely silent except for the breathing of the trekking party of six. Neji's brows furrowed and his eyes strained to see anything suspicious in the woods. He also noted the disappearance of signs of life in the woods. From his previous expeditions, he had come to realize the lack of animal activity usually does not bode well. The silence seemed to swallow this part of the mountains.

Itachi suddenly stopped at the front, causing Sasuke to stumble a bit just behind him. Everyone noted a strong decaying smell in the air.

"Well someone definitely came this way, someone who's a klutz that is." Itachi slowly walked forward. "Whoever's squeamish should stay back or avert your eyes, whatever's easier."

"Urrgh…"Sasuke looked past his brother and saw the cause of the bad smell. By now the offending object was well illuminated by Itachi's flashlight. Another stone monument lay right across the trail; it looked to have been knocked over from the side of the trail. What's disturbing is the fact maggots crawled all over it as if it was an animal carcass.

"The hell's with that stench? It's just rocks isn't it?" Sasuke picked up a stick with the intent to investigate the fallen monument, but he was stopped when Naruto grabbed his arm. The blond shook his head vigorously at Sasuke, clearly indicating that it would not be a good idea.

"Don't touch that thing," Itachi commanded as he edged past the pile of maggots. "The stone statue was probably not made of stone all the way through. I think the tomb shouldn't be far now if it truly exists."

Hinata tried not to think about the wriggling maggots as she inched past them, the presence of the smell and maggots meant _something_ made of flesh and blood was inside the stone. She wondered if the stone monument earlier was the same type.

"Tsk, bad omen, Itachi." Shisui grumbled behind them. "You sure we should be doing this alone?"

"We're _only_ helping them to find the entrance, after that it's up to them." Itachi had walked off some distance before he started shining his torch into the woods around them. "There, I think the professor's accident with the statue rattled him. There's an obvious trail going through the bush."

Hinata saw some disturbed heavy undergrowth off their path which really couldn't be called a path anymore since they are pretty much surrounded by the woods by this point and how Itachi managed to find his way around here at night was anyone's guess.

"Let's just hurry up and find the place for them," Shisui shifted the backpack on his shoulders. "I want a nice cup of tea already."

The team set off following the trail marked by broken low tree branches and tall plants that were recently cut down to make a path further into the woods. Hinata could also hear running water and gathered that there's a stream nearby but it was impossible to pinpoint its actual location in the dark. After what felt like hours to Hinata, she suddenly saw a small area ahead which was not completely covered by vegetation. The ground showed evidence of being recently cleared, a decent sized gaping hole lies in the middle of the area. To their left, flashlight illuminated a tiny campsite with a small tent and some other basic outdoor camping tools as well as a shovel.

"This is the place," Itachi commented. He went to check the tent while Shisui walked over to inspect the hole in the ground. "This campsite seems to have been uninhabited for a few days. If your man is down there, he's been down there for quite some time without food or water from here."

Naruto rushed to the tent as well, he began to frantically go through what little amount of items left there. There were some tins of canned food stacked in one corner, a shabby-looking sleeping bag and a couple of pots for cooking or boiling water. When he evidently could not find what he was looking for, he turned to Neji and started using sign language.

"The translated manuscript isn't there huh? I bet the old man has it on him." Neji nodded. "The professor has always been careful about his research though. He's constantly paranoid of his research materials being stolen and published without crediting him."

"Hey, Itachi you might want to come see this," Shisui called out from beside the hole. "We seem to have a _pro_ here! I don't know what qualifications that professor has but he's got my respect at least."

As everyone gathered around the hole they saw a small pile of bricks beside it on the ground. Shisui grinned and shone his flashlight into the hole. The hole itself was not dug straight down, it was done at about 70 degrees angle. There were three layers of bricks about a meter down from the surface. In between the layers of bricks were small amounts of dark red waxy substance. Hinata squinted, it could not possibly be blood right?

"Vitriol, I've only read about this sort of trap in reference books! I can't believe I'm actually seeing one right now!" Neji suddenly seemed excited. Hinata only shot him a questioning look. "Vitriol is sulfuric acid. As you can see here it was inserted between the layers of brick walls making up the outer structure of the tomb. It acts as an antitheft device, if you dig down and try to directly force your way through the brick walls the vitriol will spill forth and melt off the skin of attempted intruders."

"How lovely," Hinata replied sarcastically. She really hoped they don't encounter anymore real examples from the reference books that Neji read. "Is it safe to even go down there then?"

"Almost all of it is drained already," Shisui directed his flashlight to a mound of fresh earth a few meters away. There was a long plastic tube next to it. "I bet the brilliant professor dug that extra hole to release all the vitriol before he started removing the bricks."

"Ok, this is where we take our leave," Itachi stepped back. "Let's go Sasuke." The younger Uchiha seemed reluctant as he was obviously curious about the tomb now.

"Here, you have my flashlight," Shisui handed Naruto the flashlight he held. "That's about as much assistance as we can give at this point."

"Are you guys going to be ok?" Sasuke shot Hinata a concerned look. Since Hinata has no definite answer to that, she simply shrugged and tried to brush off emerging bad thoughts in her head.

"If you guys don't return by tomorrow midday, I'll consider you guys deceased." Itachi told Neji with a straight face. "Don't take unnecessary risks. I hope for your sake the professor hasn't progressed too far underground. Good luck."

"When have I ever been lucky while underground? You should have seen my track record." Neji laughed dryly. "You're going to leave indicators to mark the path out of here for us when you go?"

"Sure thin-"

"Fuck me!" Shisui cursed loudly. He managed to drop the extra flashlight he was getting out of the bag and Sasuke's attempt to catch it for him in midair only managed to make things worse by knocking it into the hole Jiraiya made to access the tomb. Both of them looked down into the hole then at each other. The flashlight had been turned on before it dropped; Hinata could see the flashlight on a flat surface about three to four meters down. So the floor of the tomb wasn't as far down as she thought it would be.

"…sorry," Sasuke muttered apologetically. Shisui only sighed and pulled up his sleeves and tossed his backpack to Sasuke. "What are you doing?"

"Relax kid; I'm just going down to get it that's all. It's an easy climb so I'll be right back." With that, it looked to Hinata like the man jumped into the hole. She was surprised at how agile the man was, he made the downwards climb look fairly easy. In a few moments, Shisui was already at the bottom of the hole, Hinata could see him picking up the torch and shining it around himself.

"What does Shisui do for a living?" Hinata asked Sasuke, but it was Itachi who answered her, "Rock climbing instructor."

"…really?" Neji deadpanned. "How many students does he have?"

"Only _most_ of the girls living in Qing-Ming." Itachi replied. Hinata raised an eyebrow, it seemed like _someone_ was jealous. "Let's get moving Sasuke."

"Uh, Shisui's still down there hang on," Sasuke leaned over the hole to look down. "Hey Shi-…uh, brother?"

"What, he fell asleep down there or something?" Itachi was getting impatient. He was tired and wanted to get off this mountain already.

"I don't fucking see him," Sasuke looked up at the others. "Yo, Shisui you still down there?!"

Hinata could hear the alarm in his voice; she quickly leaned over the hole too. Sasuke was right; it was pitch black down the hole and only silence answered his calls.

"Did the floor collapse under him?" Neji marched over to pull Hinata away in case the entire area turned unstable. "Why didn't we hear anything?"

In a flash, Itachi was at Sasuke's side and unzipped the backpack Sasuke carried. He quickly brought out several glow sticks from the bag, snapped and mixed one stick then tossed it down the hole. The stick landed at the bottom, it glowed faintly and Hinata could see the distance to the bottom of the hole from the surface was exactly the same as before when Shisui was down there with his flashlight.

"It's like he completely vanished," Hinata breathed. Itachi made no reply but his gaze was fixed on the glow stick in the distance, in fact everyone was looking at the glow stick as if wishing for it to bring back Shisui somehow. Suddenly, the glow stick seemed to be swallowed by darkness. It was so quick Hinata was sure she would have missed it if she blinked. Without missing a beat, Itachi lit up another glow stick and tossed it down. The second glow stick should have landed in close proximity to the first one but Hinata could not see the other glow stick anywhere.

"Shit," Itachi swore and stood up. "Neji, have you read anything about this type of antitheft mechanism?"

"I was reading up on history of ancient civilizations, not _science fiction_!" Neji snapped, Hinata noted he was sweating bullets. "This is completely crazy! Naruto, you got any ideas?"

Naruto nervously shook his head.

"Whatever that was, it's clear that once you get to the tomb you vanish. This is like a point of no return." Neji concluded. "Perhaps this hole serves as a portal to somewhere else?"

"Sasuke I want you go to back to town to alert the family, the rest of you who are willing can come with me down to the tomb," Itachi took the backpack from Sasuke who looked like he was going to protest.

"But it was my fault Shisui-" the young man started.

"Sasuke! I said GO! Now!" Itachi pointed towards the way they came through the woods. "The situation only gets worse if no one knows we are here!"

"…_Shit!_ I'll be back with help as soon as I can!" Sasuke backed away with a conflicted look on his face. He then turned and ran off.

"Anyone not willing to risk their life from now on needs to hurry after Sasuke." Itachi looked at each of them in turn. "I'm going to be frank and say I cannot be responsible for your lives once we get down there and I don't care about this professor of yours. Once I find Shisui, we going to find a way out of the tomb with or without you guys."

Hinata felt like the whole situation was surreal. How did everything go wrong such a short amount of time?

"Hinata, you should stay behind." Neji ordered. "Naruto and I didn't realize this could get so dangerous. It was a mistake to ask for your help."

"You wanted my help right? Well I'm here to help so why aren't you letting me? I'm not going to just watch my own brother disappear down a hole to god-knows-where!" Hinata retorted. It's true that she was terrified of what might be waiting down in the tomb but she was just slightly more terrified of losing her big brother…just slightly.

"Make up your minds quick, I'm going." Itachi called out from beside the hole, and before anyone can reply he lit up another glow stick, leaned over and dove into the hole just like Shisui. Naruto picked up his pickaxe and followed suit albeit in a more cautious manner. Neji scrambled over to the hole, he turned his head to tell Hinata to stay above ground but she growled and shoved him forward into the hole before climbing down after him with a shovel she picked up.

The climb to the bottom was not long at all. When all of them finally got their feet on firm ground they used their flashlights and glow sticks to look around at their surroundings. They were in the middle of a very long corridor. The walls and the floor were made from smooth giant stone slabs. Hinata looked up and down the corridor, expecting something to come out of the shadows at any moment to attack them. She saw another two glow sticks still lit up on the ground further down the corridor. It must have been the first couple of glow sticks Itachi threw into the tomb.

"It's just a corridor…" Neji sighed. "I don't see Shisui though. Is it at all possible he just went to see what's at the end of this corridor?"

"No, that's not like him to wander off even if he seemed less serious about everything," Itachi shone his flashlight upwards to the hole they came down in and sucked in a breath. "But _that_ may explain why he couldn't get out."

They all looked up and saw that the hole they used to come down has now been completely covered by an ancient and heavy looking stone slab; it seemed to be the very same type that were used to construct the corridor they were in and now all four of them were trapped.


End file.
